France may permanently station soldiers in Mali

French soldiers man their positions while clashes erupted in the city of Gao on February 21, 2013 and an apparent car bomb struck near a camp housing French troops as Malian and foreign forces struggled to secure Mali's volatile north against Islamist rebels. (AFP Photo) / AFP

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has suggested the creation of a peacekeeping force in Mali that would include West African troops already operating in the country. He also said that a “parallel force” must be built to confront Islamist threats.

"Given the anticipated level and nature of the residual
threat, there would be a fundamental requirement for a parallel
force to operate in Mali alongside the UN mission in order to
conduct major combat and counter-terrorism operations," Ban
wrote in his report on Mali.

Such a force could be built on the French troops already active
in Mali, some diplomats say.

Once the African nations’ soldiers become a UN peacekeeping
force, most of their troops and police would operate in northern
Mali, while there would be a "light presence" based in the
country's capital, Bamako, Ban suggested.

"The force would operate under robust rules of engagement,
with a mandate to use all necessary means to address threats to the
implementation of its mandate, which would include protection of
civilians," he said.

The parallel force proposed by Ban Ki-moon would specifically
target Islamist extremists, and could be based in Mali or elsewhere
in West Africa. Diplomats expressed hope that the UN Security
Council will vote on the peacekeeping proposal in
mid-April.

France launched its military intervention in Mali in January to
combat Islamist groups that had taken over the north of the country
a year ago. The French army succeeded in driving the Islamists out
Mali’s main northern cities and into desert and mountain hideouts.
Still, Ban's report said Mali suffered from a "crisis of
governance" marked by "endemic corruption," and a lack
of state authority.

The 11,200 African troops converted into peacekeepers could only
cover the main towns "assessed to be at highest risk," Ban
explained. The bulk of the contingent would come from a West
African force known as AFISMA (African-led International Support
Mission to Mali), comprised of armed forces from many African
nations and already operational in Mali.

France said it would start withdrawing 4,000 of its troops in
late April as part of a handover to the UN-backed African force.
French President Francois Hollande has repeatedly vowed that the
troops will remain in the region only until a legitimate government
can take over.

The Mali intervention has cost France more than 100 million
euros so far.